Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 20, May 12, 2002:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2002, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
We have two new anonymous subscribers this week
Welcome aboard! We'll also lost a few due to email
address changes. Our subscriber count is now 465.
Can anyone help locate Benny Bolin, Rick Day, Mike
Ellis, Chuck Hakes, or F.J. Wagner?
WORLD SERIES OF NUMISMATICS
Contestants are being sought for the World Series
of Numismatics to be held on August 2nd, 2002
in New York City at the American Numismatic
Association convention. These events have always
been fun and a highlight of any convention. For more
information, contact Gail Baker, ANA Director of
Education at this address: education@money.org.
KOULZ'S ALLOY CORRECTIONS
David Cassel writes: "Your teaser was quite fine with
the exception of two glaring errors:
In the title, "KOULTZ' ALLOY UNMASKED?", you
misspelled KOULZ'S ALLOY. There is no "T" and
an apostrophe S would be accurate.
You also wrote: "A German chemist named Koulz was
said to be the inspiration for both the reverse design...
pieces. " This is only one of two designs. You missed
the most important design which included SIL(ver) NIC(kel)
COP(per);
Here is the quote that you should have used: 'SIL.9' over
'NIC.1' above a line which is over the date '1869' and
second reverse design elements, 'SIL.' over 'NIC.' over
'COP.' above a line which is over the slightly curved date
'1869.' "
[My apologies for the mistakes. Some things are safe to
do at midnight, but editing a newsletter isn't one of them.
In my zeal to condense David's summary, I snipped a
little too much. -Editor]
1933 DOUBLE EAGLE TIMETABLE
Regarding last week's mention of the U.S. Mint's timetable
of events in the life of the soon-to-be-auctioned 1933
Double Eagle (see http://usmint.gov/auction/), Tom DeLorey
writes:
"I had already noted this interesting document, which seems
to indicate that the 1933 Double Eagles did not leave the
Mint until 1937. If this is so, it would tend to support the
Mint's often stated (but never, ever explained) claim that
these coins were in some way "stolen" from the U.S. Mint.
The next logical question is, if these coins were indeed stolen
from the Mint in 1937, who dunnit? Was it an inside job?
Was the Mint's indefatigable 50+ year campaign to seek
these coins out and destroy them, reminiscent of the mindless
pursuit of "Les Miserable," an attempt to cover up a theft
by a Mint employee? If so, why bother?
I do not understand the Timeline's reference to the Assay
Commission coins. Were the stolen coins taken from the
regular coins, or the Assay coins? How do others interpret
this?"
David Gladfelter adds: "I just received my copy of the
"1933" catalogue. What a change from Sotheby's (1954)
to Sotheby's/Stack's (2002)! In the former, the 1933
double eagle appeared in a group lot of 17 pieces with no
illustration; in the latter it is the sole piece in the entire
auction and there are multiple full-color illustrations, with
no "eclipses" (you know, where the obverse photo is
tiddlywinked over the reverse photo).
How many catalogued single-lot auction sales can you
think of? Only one comes immediately to my mind,
Paul Cunningham's sale #56 (mail bid) of a previously
unlisted Civil War merchant token. Although I will
definitely not be the new owner of "1933" it's nice to
know that the piece will have a legal owner and not be
forever lost, as are the 1964 silver dollars produced
and then destroyed by our Mint.
The tale of the "1933" is a very interesting one, not
only to numismatic specialists. Wonder if the cataloguers
could be persuaded to issue a hardcover edition?"
[The photography isn't flattering to the coin. It has
apparently been knocked around a bit since it left the
Mint. Good thing for the owners that it's one of a kind.
-Editor]
CATALOGUE ESTIMATES
Allan Davisson writes: "Regarding the Astarte catalog
estimates and estimating in general:
I looked more carefully at the Astarte catalog after
someone raised a question about the estimate being the
opening bid. It seemed to me that the opening bid prices,
in general, were reasonable and conservative. It is
refreshing, in a sense, to know the exact reserve price.
Estimates can be all over the place, a comment I frequently
make in my own catalogs. I try to estimate at what I
believe to be the current market value. Like anyone, I misfire.
But I see catalogs that have very low estimates, typically
European, and no one expects the coins to sell at that level.
Other catalogs, particularly buy-or-bid sales use high
estimates--they know that the maximum they will get for a
coin is the estimate.
U.S. catalogs provide no estimates (usually). My
understanding is that this is because the market is in constant
fluctuation. It seems to me somewhat unlikely that the
changes are going to be that rapid that some estimate guides
could not be provided. I would be interested in the typical
"scatter" of bids that a major U.S. sale gets. Estimates seem
to me useful guides and I wonder if the explanation I
suggested above is the whole story. (Estimates are a
substantial amount of work involving catalog and market
research after the full effort at attribution.)
One last note: my catalogs have a pretty good United
Kingdom distribution (I estimate in both dollars and pounds.)
I have noticed, and have confirmed it with others who serve
both the US and British market, that Americans seem more
dependent on estimates than British collectors. This is most
evident by the willingness of bidders to go well beyond the
estimate when they particularly want a coin."
HOW MANY "SERIOUS" AMERICAN COLLECTORS?
In response to Dick Johnson's discussion of the market for
new numismatic books, Denis Loring writes:
"153,200 -- Unduplicated number of collectors who
subscribe to the four largest numismatic publications.
5,000 -- Estimated number of serious numismatists in
America, the core segment of numismatics.
I find this disparity hard to believe. I don't know the
definition of "serious" being used here, but I'll bet that
with any reasonable definition of the word this number
would be much higher."
MEHL'S STAR COIN BOOK
The April 1910 issue of Mehl's Numismatic Monthly
provides some sales figures for B. Max Mehl's Star
Coin Book. These numbers should probably be
taken with a grain of salt, but here goes:
"When nearly 50,000 copies of a coin book issued
by a coin dealer are sold within less than four years
it is indeed evident that the book earned its success.
The first issue of the Star Coin Book appeared in
1906 and retailed at 10c a copy. This issue of 10,000
copies was sold out in less than a year; then followed
the second edition, a larger and more elaborate book
at 25c, which met with greater success than the first.
This prompted the publisher to publish a trial issue of
a 50c book, the success of which was even greater
than the preceding issues. A more elaborate and
complete book was then prepared and issued in last
December as the fourth edition. And in less than
four months, over eight thousand copies have been
sold, both at wholesale and retail."
EPHEMERA COLLECTING
The following is an excerpt from "Ephemera Collecting -
A Growing Field, Hard to Define" by John C. Dann. The
excerpt first appeared in AB Bookman's Weekly, Clifton,
New Jersey, U.S.A., in the issue of March 16, 1998.
"It was just 18 years ago, in 1980, that the Ephemera Society
of America came into existence and the first Ephemera Show
was held. The organization has prospered and the show has
become a widely anticipated fixture of the collecting world.
Even the phrase "ephemera," a somewhat equivocal term used
to describe "a thing" essentially indescribable with a single
word, has come to be widely understood and accepted by
collectors, dealers, and librarians.
The Ephemera Society of America borrowed the term from the
British Ephemera Society, which was formed in 1975. As
understood by enthusiasts, the essential elements of
ephemera seem to be:
1. "the stuff" of which the field is made was originally
produced for some immediate, practical purpose, with
no thought that it would be saved or preserved (having
an ephemeral existence);
2. it tends to fall between the cracks of traditional
collecting fields and librarianship (not books, not "art"
in the formal sense, not manuscripts, not antiques);
3. in its vast and fascinating diversity, it documents
everyday life, particularly that of average men and
women in the past, perhaps more effectively than
traditional collectibles."
http://www.ephemerasociety.org/article-dann.html
THE LAST WORD ON DUST JACKETS?
Dick Johnson writes: "As I look around my library shelves
there are three kinds of books I see: those with dust jackets,
those without, and those with lithograph book covers (those
integral covers in color designs). I like the last category best.
Notable: Bowers' recent "American Numismatics Before the
Civil War" and Rulau's latest edition of "Medallic Portraits of
Washington." The dust jacket is kinda built into the covers.
The need for a dust jacket is to entice you into the book.
Commercial book publishers go to a lot of expense in
designing dust jackets to make their product more appealing,
particularly in the book store. Of all my reference books,
however, only one or two have a dust jacket. So here's
my last word on dust jackets:
A book with a dust jacket is a book to read. A book
without a dust jacket is a book to buy."
ANA MEMBER 5011
David Fanning writes: "I need to know who ANA member
5011 was. I have a hand-written letter with an illegible
signature which I wish to identify. Clearly written under the
signature is "ANA 5011." Looking at the relevant appendix
to Dave Bowers's Centennial History of the ANA, it seems
this very number was the first assigned in 1936, so all I
probably need someone to do is check the membership info
for the January 1936 issue of The Numismatist. Mine only
go back to '39. The name and any address info given would
be appreciated. Thanks. I can be reached at
this address: fanning32@earthlink.net.
[From the January 1936 issue of The Numismatist: Member
#5011 is "Albert N. Hantem, White Lake, So. Dak" (p35)
-Editor]
ROBERT HEATH'S VALUABLE MEDAL RESEARCH
Dick Johnson writes; "Robert Heath was quoted in last week's
E-Sylum. I am a great admirer of Bob Heath and his lifetime
work on the commemorative medals of New England cities
and towns.
He has developed one of the best numbering systems in the
field of numismatics, honed by many year's experience. It is
universal, uniform for all states, expandable to accommodate
new issues as well as new-found discoveries from the past.
Referencing is fast and easy by his number system.
He uses the two-letter state designation (from the Post Office)
and then assigns a serial number for every town and city in that
state arranged alphabetically. Then a chronological serial
number for each medal issue, then a letter suffix for varieties
of composition or content where necessary. Not all cities and
towns have issued medals, but the number is there when they
do!
He has issued separate catalogs for each New England state
and gone through a number of editions: Connecticut (5),
Maine (3), Massachusetts (8), New Hampshire (5), Rhode
Island (4), Vermont (4). He devotes a page to each medal.
The shortcoming, however, is that his catalogs are looseleaf.
The pages are half lettersize (8 1/2 x 5 1/2) and he punches
them for your 3-ring binders. Unfortunately I had only two
binders that size, so all the other state catalogs are in boxes.
He retired last August, so now he tells me he has the time to
devote to this project, adding new items he discovers on
eBay and elsewhere. But he still continues to issue his
catalogs only in looseleaf format. He states this is a dynamic
area where changes can only be made by revising a single
page at a time. (And prints only on demand.)
Bob, we would like to see your total work in a book.
Between covers. The information you have gathered is that
valuable to numismatics. You can still keep YOUR records
on looseleaf format to revise future editions.
Please, won't some numismatic book publisher come forward
and offer to publish Bob's work? It deserves it."
HOW NOT TO CARE FOR YOUR MANUSCRIPTS
Hopefully Robert Heath's work will find a publisher.
In the meantime, here are a couple tips on what NOT
to do with your manuscripts, taken from "Delete, Baby,
Delete" by Cullen Murphy in The Atlantic Monthly,
May 2002:
"In 1862 the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti lost
his wife, Elizabeth, to an overdose of laudanum; stricken
with grief, he gathered up his unpublished poems and
placed them in her coffin. Rossetti came to regret this act.
Seven years later he had Elizabeth's body exhumed, and
retrieved the poetry.
Historically, the most reliable means of destruction has
been fire.... One of the grimmest episodes in the annals
of combustion took place in 1835, when Thomas Carlyle
asked John Stuart Mill to read a just-completed draft of
the first volume of his monumental study 'The French
Revolution'. Mill took the handwritten manuscript away.
Some while later he stood before Carlyle, ashen, explaining
that his maid had accidentally destroyed it while lighting a
fire. Carlyle received the news stoically."
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/05/murphy.htm
[So - does anyone have any anecdotes about wayard
numismatic manuscripts? Or "lost" works that reappeared
years later? -Editor]
FEATURED WEB SITE
This week's featured web site is the Money Museum of
the Richmond, VA branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve
Bank. "The Money Museum is located at the Bank's
headquarters in downtown Richmond. The museum is open
to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday. Requires advanced scheduling.
Museum exhibits tell the story of money in Colonial America
and the United States. Also on display are money related
artifacts and exhibits devoted to primitive monies, medieval
and ancient coins, and other special-interest items."
http://www.rich.frb.org/research/econed/museum/
Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society

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